Brightline train kills person in Hollywood in suspected suicide

Brightline higher-speed passenger trains started running into MiamiCentral station Saturday, and almost every train was sold out for the kick-off weekend. Mike Stocker, South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Mike Stocker / Sun Sentinel)

A Brightline train struck and killed a pedestrian Friday night, and Hollywood police are investigating the death as a suicide.

The victim was on the Florida East Coast railroad tracks along Dixie Highway near Fillmore Street about 7:30 p.m. when the passenger train passed through, police said.

Advertisement

The train remained at the scene for about an hour during the investigation, officials said.

The person’s identity was being withheld until relatives could be located and notified.

This is the tenth fatal incident since Brightline’s test runs in July 2017. Two people were killed by Brightline trains last year and eight have died so far this year.

Police have investigated seven of those 10 deaths as suicides. Seven of nine autopsies revealed that those who were killed had drugs or alcohol in their systems, according to medical examiners in Broward and Palm Beach counties.